ADF Beep Test: PFA Shuttle Run Levels by Service

If your role needs one, you sit a Pre-entry Fitness Assessment (PFA): push-ups, sit-ups and a shuttle run, which the ADF's own recruiting brochure also calls the beep test. The shuttle run is the standard 20 metre course, so any beep test audio trains you for it.

The number most people are after is 7.5, the Army General Entry Combat and Officer Entry standard. Army Combat Support sits at 6.1. Most Air Force roles ask for 6.1 from men and 5.1 from women. Most Navy roles no longer run a PFA at all. Specialist roles go a lot higher, up to 10.1 for Navy Divers and Army Special Forces.

ADF Careers writes these as a "shuttle run score" like 7.5, which is the usual level.shuttle notation: level 7, shuttle 5. Every conversion further down reads them that way. Standards move, and they differ by role inside each service, so treat this page as a starting point and confirm your own figure with your recruiter.

Your enlistment coordinator books the assessment, and if your role needs one you have to pass it twelve weeks before your enlistment or appointment day. You also need a body mass index between 18.5 and 32.9, measured on assessment day and again when you enter.

The shuttle run is set up on a 20 metre track. You run back and forth in time with the beeps and you have to get one foot on or over the 20m mark before you turn. Technique on the other two events is assessed, not just the count: a rep that is done badly does not count, and you get warned during the assessment. Sit-ups are done with the feet held, arms straight and palms on the thighs, sliding your wrists up over your knees. Army candidates may rest their head between reps, Navy and Air Force candidates may not.

The ADF also puts free preparation behind the assessment. There is the ADF Ready app, which has a practice PFA and technique videos, complimentary strength and conditioning sessions run by UniSport in more than 30 locations for candidates who have passed their medical, and a seven-week Army Pre-Conditioning Program for General Entry candidates who need a run-up. Entry to that program has its own lower bar: a 5.5 shuttle run score for Combat roles and 4.9 for Combat Support.

ADF Careers does not publish a retest policy. If you miss the level, nothing official says how many goes you get or how long you wait, so ask your enlistment coordinator rather than a forum.

The PFA is a gate you get through once. Navy shows the difference clearly: most roles have no pre-entry shuttle run at all, yet ADF Careers says that through your Navy career you sit an annual fitness test built around a plank and a run or walk. Each service sets its own serving standards, and they are not the numbers on the recruiting pages. Passing a 6.1 today is not the last aerobic test anyone will ask you for.

ADF Careers gives the same advice a coach would: the way to get better at the beep test is to run the beep test. Their brochure asks for 2 to 3km of running at least once a week and sprint intervals at least twice a week, and it suggests taking a short break and picking up where you stopped when you fall short in training.

Run a real one first so you know your starting level, then work the gap. Our free beep test app plays the full 20-level schedule with level calls and a score, and the audio downloads are ungated MP3s if you would rather train off a speaker at the oval. If you have never run one, the setup and rules guide covers marking the course properly, which matters more than people expect. If you are stuck indoors, the treadmill conversion gives you the speeds, though a treadmill will not train the turns.